Kelly Learns
A compilation of my columns from the Sunday issues of the Daily Courier, Prescott, Arizona.
I’ve been writing an every-other Sunday column for the Daily Courier in Prescott, AZ since late 2020, thanks to the kind encouragement of long-time columnist Ron Barnes, who spent over 30 years contributing his wisdom not only to the newspaper but to many other people and organizations in the Prescott area. He put in some good words to the publisher and editor for me when he decided to retire from column writing. It’s one of those gifts you never knew you wanted and then realize how grateful you are to have it.
The Daily Courier has exclusive rights to my column for 60 days after publication, which is why you might be reading a Christmas column in February. I love writing but seem to need a project and deadline to do it. Hopefully this blog will inspire me to write more. Thanks for stopping by to check out my site!
We should really talk about it
It’s the nature of my job in hospice that many people I meet are in the middle of an urgent health crisis. Someone they love has reached a critical point, and now they have to figure out what happens next. Sometimes it’s an unexpected terminal diagnosis with a prognosis of weeks or months to live. Other times, it’s the result of a medical emergency, like a stroke or aneurysm. Or they’ve reached the final stage after living for many years with kidney disease, heart failure, dementia, cancer, or one of the many other ways our bodies fall apart as we age. It can be hard to talk about someone we love reaching the end, no matter our age. I will always remember meeting a frail-looking man in his early 90s at the local hospital who had received a tough diagnosis and was considering all his...
Always remember
The dusty smell of monsoon rain in the air this past week reminded me that we have reached another anniversary of the Yarnell Hill Fire and the tragic deaths of the 19 Granite Mountain Interagency Hotshots. Eleven years ago, we were still pretty new to Prescott. I had...
The joy of being bored
We decided to take a long weekend in Yucca, Arizona over the Memorial Day weekend with our dogs. When I told friends where we were going, I was met with some confused stares. “Where’s Yucca?” they’d say. If you haven’t been to Yucca, population 96 as of 2020, I’m not...
A robot did my homework
I wrote a poem the other day. Well, actually, I didn’t write it, it was created by an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot called ChatGPT. I was curious because I’ve been hearing a lot about it in the news lately, so I signed up to give it a try. Some teachers are...
Rolling Along
The other day I got to ask a dozen seniors questions about their lives. I learned one woman had been a true “Rosie the Riveter” in her earlier days. Another man held a summer job at a dude ranch that ended up closing down and came back home having traded his...
Jumping into the New Year
The other day I was cleaning out a desk drawer in my office and found an envelope that said, “Kelly Resolutions 1999.” I opened it, hoping my 20th-century goals might have been a little more creative than “eat more vegetables and exercise more.” I was disappointed to...
Wish list
My purse is stuffed with Christmas lists from the residents at our assisted living. I am happy to report that folks in their later years still think candy and chocolate are good gift choices. The lists are short and mostly practical—slippers, scarves, hand lotion,...
Friendship lost and found
I got a text the other day from a Canadian friend I hadn’t talked to in a long time and hadn’t seen in person for thirteen years. Kimberly was going to be in Arizona for the weekend, joining her husband on a business trip, and wanted to know how far away I lived from...
I love a parade
It’s a helpless feeling when your car won’t start. It’s even worse when you’re waiting to roll through Prescott as Float No. 50 in the Veterans’ Day Parade, and there’s a Vietnam veteran sitting in the front seat next to you looking forward to being a part of it. “I...
Joy at any age
By the time you read this column, I will officially be considered a senior citizen by Goodwill and a host of other local establishments with discounts for the 55-plus crowd. I’m still mulling over how I feel about achieving this status, even though I enjoy saving...
Adventures in gardening
Every morning when I head out the door to work, I look at our front yard garden. It’s been a hard battle, getting flowers and plants into the ground much less making them grow. We live up in the pines, a little higher than downtown Prescott, which means it’s a few...
Opportunity knocks
Two years ago, I was sitting with a few of my coworkers in Ron Barnes’ living room for the first time. He wanted to talk through an idea he had for his farewell column in the Daily Courier about the hospice services he was receiving and what the care meant to him....